Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) kicked off the Third National Career Carnival (NCC 3.0) on Friday morning, drawing students from across cohorts to workshops, employer panels and CV-and-interview clinics — with a full-scale job fair scheduled for Saturday on the university helipad where major corporate recruiters will set up stalls.

Organised by the BAU Career Club (BAUSCC), the two-day event opened at 9:30am in the Syed Nazrul Islam Auditorium and packed the first day with specialist sessions on CV-building, interview techniques, entrepreneurship, overseas higher-study pathways and sector-specific career advice aimed at converting academic training into employable skills. The carnival is running for the third consecutive year and has become a key recruitment and skills link between the campus and industry.

Acting as event chair, Prof. Dr. Md. Aktaruzzaman, president of the BAU Career Club, led the opening session. Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. G M Mujibur Rahman attended as chief guest and stressed the university’s commitment to bridging classroom learning with market needs, urging students to treat the carnival as a platform to build longer-term careers rather than short-term job hunting.

Corporate presence is heavy: organisers listed ACI Animal Health, ACI Motors, ACI Crop Care, Bengal Meat, CP Group, Syngenta, Square and several other firms among employers and sponsors participating in the carnival and the Saturday job fair. The organisers also named media and service partners including local outlets and highlighted the event’s role in showcasing start-ups and entrepreneurial pitches from students.

Workshops on the opening day were run by industry experts including Dr. Mohammad Amzad Hossain, deputy executive director at ACI Animal Health, and Subrata Ranjan Das, managing director of ACI Motors. Other speakers included Everest-summit doctor Dr. Babar Ali and cricket analyst Syed Abid Husain Sami, who led sessions tying leadership, resilience and professional communication to employability.

“The path from university to leadership in corporations and public service is paved by long-term vision, applied academic skills and persistent effort,” said Prof. Dr. Md. Humayun Kabir, the university’s acting treasurer, during the opening remarks. “This carnival is designed to seed those skills — not only to help graduates find jobs, but to inspire some of them to become future employers.”

Programme highlights for students included hands-on CV clinics, mock interviews, sector spotlights (agri-tech, food processing, pharmaceuticals and FMCG), a startup pitch track and seminars on pursuing research or graduate study abroad. The organisers said Saturday’s job fair will feature practical recruitment activities — on-the-spot interviews, application kiosks and company stalls — run in coordination with participating firms.

Event sponsors stressed the mutual benefits of recruiting at BAU: corporate representatives told organisers they were scouting both technical graduates for farm- and lab-based roles and management trainees for commercial operations. Students and recent alumni queued at employer booths throughout Friday, exchanging CVs and booking slots for coming interviews.

The BAU Career Club said the carnival aims to institutionalise industry linkages at scale combining career coaching, employer access and startup incubation and pledged to publish placement outcomes after the fair concludes. The university encouraged all participants, especially final-year students, to attend the helipad job fair on Saturday to capitalise on immediate hiring opportunities.